Dinosaur Theme Park Models, Dioramas & Products!

[DinoCreator]

I guess this is the most appropriate thread to announce my plan to do a series of dinosaur toys/kits and miniature toy theme park construction accessories starting this year! . This is all inspired by the movie Jurassic Park and its game...Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis.



Basically I will run a new website devoted to supplying all the parts nescessary in building your own theme park dioramas similar to the style of Operation Genesis, and will include far more species of dinosaurs than those currently in the Jurassic Park franchise and movies. I would of course start with the favourites and these are to be well detailed, realistic resin cast kits that can be painted just the way you always wanted them.

The site will have all the buildings, fencing, trackways and vehicles you can think of to complete any fans dream diorama... right down to the litter bins, burger stalls and foliage materials (tree stumps, logs, rocks etc). I would be very interested to hear ideas on what should be included in the sets and will give out freebies to anyone whose idea is used.

Regarding the name of the park, I thought about leaving this blank on the miniature 'visitor centre' and other ammenities using the name/logo so fans can choose their own park names. This would create more variation in our dioramas alongside the various paint schemes in the dinosaurs, choice of species used and layouts.

The scale of the park would be based on a few dinosaur sculpts I've already started, so if you think that a 37ft T-rex is 12 inches long, that's the kind of scale I'm talking about. Stegos, Trikes and Hadrosaurs would be quite similar in size to the Rex, but I will do some smaller species as well as the larger Sauropods. The park itself would of course be the same scale.

I will eventually work on visitor vehicles and figures to place in the dioramas, such as tour barges and trains.

Regarding pricing on these pieces, the most expensive parts would be the dinosaur models themselves averaging at around £25 - £35 each as unpainted model kits. Park materials will vary greatly but be generally cheaper than the dinosaur figures.

It would be very interesting to see dioramas show up here on the forum as there's sure to be so many variations to look through! Size of diorama is unlimited only by your pocket or space available, but there would be enough materials to build anything from 1ft up to 20ft square! To illustrate the products better, I will be doing some very big dioramas of my own to display on the site and forums.

Please let me know your thoughts on all this. I'm sure a lot of fans could find a use for these products.

[DinoLord]

I certainly would be interested, assuming that you actually finished this one. What happened to your other projects anyways?

[Trexroarr]

This is quite the undertaking, but definitely a fantastic idea! I love dioramas, and to be able to build my own, would be awesome! ;D

Is there any chance that we will be able to order these already painted? I seriously suck at painting...

Will you be doing smaller dinosaurs too like Raptors, Pachys, Compies, Dilos, Dryosaurus, Gallimimus, etc.?

Here's a few ideas for you too...

1) Depending on the size, maybe you can alter the scale slightly to coincide with Papo's Jurassic Park Dinos.

2) Maybe some people for the park, with the cast of the JP Films in particular.

3) I'd love to see a bird cage for Pteranodons like in JP3. That was a big let down for me in Operation Genesis.

4) Some stuff based on the upcoming game from TellTale Games; Jurassic Park: The Game. For example, maybe some of the new characters (like my earlier suggestion), or maybe the new dinosaur... A nocturnal, venomous....Troodon!
www.telltalegames.com/jurassicpark

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Apr 13, 2011 22:47:09 GMT DinoLord said:

I certainly would be interested, assuming that you actually finished this one. What happened to your other projects anyways?

I tend to agree here..it sounds really interesting..but you have quite a list of unfinished projects spanning back aways now. .

[DinoCreator]

Apr 14, 2011 0:47:26 GMT Blade-of-the-Moon said:

Apr 13, 2011 22:47:09 GMT DinoLord said:

I certainly would be interested, assuming that you actually finished this one. What happened to your other projects anyways?

I tend to agree here..it sounds really interesting..but you have quite a list of unfinished projects spanning back aways now. .

Some of my other projects would be integrated into this one basically, such as the 10 Miniature JP Dinosaur Figure thread I started before here. I have a 15" Spino sculpt started and the paper cutouts done for the other JP dinosaurs I plan to do for this project. Even some of the Lost World style cages I've started on the JPtoys thread will be completed and used for this project.

Trexroarr...Regarding painting, I could offer these painted, but as mentioned on the thread above, I would have to charge more for finished kits, as it's more time involved of course.

"Will you be doing smaller dinosaurs too like Raptors, Pachys, Compies, Dilos, Dryosaurus, Gallimimus, etc.?"

These are tricky due to their small size, I may be able to do Gallimimus and Pachys, but others would be so small to produce. Think how tiny a Compy would be if in scale with a 1ft long T-rex!

"Depending on the size, maybe you can alter the scale slightly to coincide with Papo's Jurassic Park Dinos."

Some of papo's dinosaurs could be used, but not all are in scale with each other. The Papo Raptor is at least twice the size it should be compared with the Rex. The Parasaur seems too small also, as I believe they could reach up to a similar length as the Rex (35 - 45ft), but adding other toy dinosaurs to the dioramas is a great idea. I will do as many species possible, including marine and flying reptiles. I love the aviary idea too!

"Maybe some people for the park, with the cast of the JP Films in particular."

I will eventually do people to add in the park. I wondered if there're any existing JP figures based on this scale? I'm not sure what scale this park would be, but the Rex would measure about 1ft long, so I think a person would stand about 1.5 inches tall.

[Trexroarr]

I know that it would of course cost more for painted things, but I'm perfectly alright with that. I really really really, cant paint...

It would be very small, but a Compy (and other small dinos like Dryosaurus), are possible I think. If you make an average person 1.5" tall, then maybe the Compy could be an inch long. According to this size chart from JP Legacy (which might help you out quite a bit by the way), Compies were 5 feet long, and 2 feet tall. It's definitely possible to make, but it'd be very small. I wouldn't mind that at all however.

www.jplegacy.org/encyc/dinosaurs/UltimateJPchart.jpg

Since you like my Pteranodon Aviary idea, does that mean that if you use it, I should be expecting some kind of freebie? ;D

[DinoCreator]

If a Compy was an inch long, the tail would be like 13mm long and 1/2 mm thick at thickest point (base). This could only be done with a strand of wire, no resin casting at all with these, so would be more likely time consuming to do compared with the others. The legs would literally have to be wire too. The whole Compy would be basically a micro wireframe the size of a finger nail.

Brachiosaurs would be a very nice size though at 20" tall!

[Trexroarr]

A okay. I see what your saying. So no Compy, Dryosaurus, Segisaurus, etc. Will you be able to do Raptors and Dilophosaurus though? According to that chart, they were both slightly larger than humans (as we know from the films).

Also, what about this that I had in my last post...

Since you like my Pteranodon Aviary idea, does that mean that if you use it, I should be expecting some kind of freebie? ;D

[DinoCreator]

Apr 15, 2011 15:34:13 GMT Trexroarr said:

A okay. I see what your saying. So no Compy, Dryosaurus, Segisaurus, etc. Will you be able to do Raptors and Dilophosaurus though? According to that chart, they were both slightly larger than humans (as we know from the films).

Also, what about this that I had in my last post...

Since you like my Pteranodon Aviary idea, does that mean that if you use it, I should be expecting some kind of freebie? ;D

I should be able to do Raptors and Dilophosaurus. Yes, I can give you something for the aviary idea.

[EmperorDinobot]

This is one hell of an undertaking.

[Trexroarr]

Apr 18, 2011 10:13:15 GMT DinoCreator said:

Apr 15, 2011 15:34:13 GMT Trexroarr said:

A okay. I see what your saying. So no Compy, Dryosaurus, Segisaurus, etc. Will you be able to do Raptors and Dilophosaurus though? According to that chart, they were both slightly larger than humans (as we know from the films).

Also, what about this that I had in my last post...

I should be able to do Raptors and Dilophosaurus. Yes, I can give you something for the aviary idea.

Ah okay, good. You can't really have a JP anything without Raptors. And yay for freebies!!! I'm definitely looking forward to it and the rest of this project!!! ;D

[DinoCreator]

I'll start this project with the JP style dinosaurs and some basic fencing materials. Also rocks, logs etc will be done about the same time. I thought about doing paving tiles/slab to lay around the paddocks, but these would be cast in clusters as they would be so small otherwise.

I need to come up with a general design for the main buildings, such as the visitor centre and viewing platforms. JP designs had white/grey wall with thatched roofs, which was quite consistent even in the Operation Genesis game. I may need to come up with my own design to avoid copyright issues.

[Trexroarr]

Personally I think you should start with the T-rex... xD

I don't think there would be copyright issues for something like this... Would there be? lol